Valley of Darkness
Valley of Darkness is an episode of the TV series, Battlestar Galactica, and aired during the show's second season. Plot Teaser In the aftermath of the battle with the Basestar, Galactica has suffered damage to its starboard flight pod due to a Heavy Raider collision, though the lack of fire does not make it a priority. Life otherwise returns to normal quickly. Billy Keikeya tries to talk things over with Petty Officer Anastasia Dualla, as they have not seen one another in person in two weeks. Petty Officer Dualla does not want to see him, as his job in the Roslin administration effectively gives him shared-blame for the recent theft of a Raider by Lt. Kara Thrace. Elsewhere, Col. Saul Tigh meets with Paramedics Ishay and Kim in the sickbay to see Cmdr. William Adama. He is still seriously ill and close to death, now in a comatose state. When power starts going down across the ship, Col. Tigh returns to CIC to find answers. Lt. Felix Gaeta concludes it to be the result of the Cylon virus. Though he disabled the wireless before the virus could penetrate Galactica's mainframe, he hypothesises that it uploaded copies to each individual computer, which have now been taken over. Cpt. Aaron Kelly reports that Centurions have boarded the ship by the starboard flight pod. On the port flight deck, the pilots get out of their Vipers in celebration of their latest victory. Cpt. Leland Adama notices something is wrong when the power goes down along with the phones. Though Cpt. Adama considers reporting the problem, he and the others simply head off to the mess, the group including Lt. Louanne Katraine, Lt. Brendan Constanza and "Flyboy". A Centurion takes them by surprise and kills Flyboy, slicing its claws into his chest before throwing him to the ground. Act 1 As the Viper pilots rush up a flight of stairs, Cpt. Adama is cornered by a Centurion. Though he shoots at it repeatedly with his sidearm, this does not phase it. It is killed by a Marine party of three with an explosive round. In this party are Cpl. Bonnington and Pvts. Twinham and Collishaw. Cpt. Adama hands Lt. Constanza a note for CIC, and goes with the Marines and Lt. Katraine to a small arms locker on Causeway Bravo for more rounds. Elsewhere, Lt. Gaeta broadcasts a warning to the fleet, demanding that all ships give the battlestar a wide berth. The transmission is jammed by the Cylons, though enough gets out. Cpl. Venner reluctantly frees President Roslin from the brig as Cpt. Adama and the Marine fireteam arrive to check on them. Cpt. Adama orders Cpl. Venner and Bonnington to escort Keikeya and President Roslin to sickbay, which is designed to function as a disaster shelter; he hands a sidearm to Keikeya as additional protection, despite his lack of training. Back on Caprica, Lt. Karl Agathon and Lt. Thrace walk through Delphi. Lt. Thrace takes notice of the lack of corpses, which she learns is because the Cylons were actively destroying bodies. The two argue over his experiences with the Cylon pretending to be Lt. Sharon Valerii, and he confesses how terrible he feels for falling in love with a machine. Lt. Thrace stops chastising him for being fooled, and they head out to her old apartment where she wants to check on things. Back at CIC, Lt. Gaeta reports progress on the elimination of the computer viruses, though it will still take an hour to get beyond emergency power. Cpt. Kelly reports that the Marine fireteams are now all aware of the Cylon attack and have set up checkpoints at key positions. He notes the Centurions have now split into two units going different directions. Col. Tigh recognises this as the standard boarding tactic used during the Cylon War, and determines they are headed to the Secondary/Aft Damage Control and the Auxiliary Fire Control. Though they sound irrelevant to hijacking the ship, he explains they will use the former to vent the crew into space, and the latter to turn the guns on the fleet. Act 2 On Kobol, Dr. Gaius Baltar is having another dream. He is laying in the Temple sleeping, awoken by Cmdr. Adama. A Marine party has rescued the Raptor 1 survivors, with Vipers patrolling the skies to protect the landing zone from Raiders. Dr. Baltar is holding the Shape of Things to Come, and presents the baby to Cmdr. Adama. He recognises the baby as such and walks to the lakeside, where he drowns the baby. As he walks off, Dr. Baltar frantically searches the water for the baby, finding nothing. He wakes up terrified in the forest, watched over by the Messenger Six. He is disturbed by the dream, not understanding why someone would kill a baby, but soon realises he has been sleeping in front of dozens of human bodies from the Exodus. Six leads him to the revelation that the utopian planet in the sacred texts is a lie conjured by refugees unwilling to accept the inherent evil that inhabits mankind. Cpt. Adama and the Marine fireteam each the small arms locker on deck 12. There are bodies along the way from crewmembers who fell victim to the Centurions. The locker itself shows signs the Centurions already made their way to the locker, as the keypad is neither working or keeping the door sealed. Inside, they find Jammer stood in a room full of more corpses. Cpt. Adama orders Pvt. Collishaw to watch the door while he, Lt. Katraine and Twinam look for the explosives. He asks Jammer what happened, but he explains he went into the locker to hide and found everyone already dead. Lt. Katraine finds there are only six explosive rounds left in storage; Pvt. Twinham expected there to be limited ammunition, but concludes another fireteam took the ammo before the attack. Though Jammer has little combat training, Pvt. Twinham arms him with a sidearm and one of the explosive rounds nonetheless, and he joins the team. Back on Caprica, Lt. Thrace shows Lt. Agathon her apartment, which is decorated with paintings she made when she was not on Galactica. Putting on one of her father's records, she puts on an old coat and rests on the couch, smoking a cigar. Lt. Agathon sees no reason to be in the apartment as she has very little food other than a pack of noodles. On the couch, Lt. Thrace explains that she hated her apartment, and muses how she is the only member of Galactica's crew fighting for the sake of fighting. Elsewhere on Deck 12, Cpl. Venner and Bonnington, President Roslin and Keikeya continue on their walk to sickbay. They open a hatch to find the port causeway full of bodies. Petty Officer Dualla is concussed but alive. Traumatised by the attack, she blankly states that the others are dead. As Keikeya checks on her, spotting she is bleeding from her head, her face remains blank and her voice monotonous, as she talks of having been attacked while returning to her rack from the Head. President Roslin suggests he refer to her as her rank, which helps snap her back. Gunfire is heard in the distance, meaning the area is still not safe. Cpl. Venner reluctantly agrees to take them to the sickbay via the starboard causeway, effectively looping around to get there. At CIC, the new reports are in. Lt. Wallace's Marine unit has confronted the Centurion team headed to the Auxiliary Fire Control. Two Centurions have been destroyed, and a third is sealed in the ship's laundry though it is still shooting. Lt. Constanza arrives at CIC and delivers Cpt. Adama's note. Lt. Gaeta continues with the reports: Sgt. Hadrian's unit had halted the Centurions headed to the Secondary Fire Control at frame 69 of Deck 10, but they cut open the hull, leaving it exposed to vacuum. Col. Tigh concludes from the new reports that there are two Centurions left, and there are no Marine fireteams between them and the decompression safeties. Act 3 On Kobol, Spc. Cally Henderson and Chief Galen Tyrol rest against a tree. Chief Tyrol is trying to get over having lost Spc. Tarn, but bonds with Spc. Henderson over their upcoming success in bringing the medicine to Spc. Socinus. Dr. Baltar returns to Lt. Alex Quartararo after his nap, but is almost shot as he runs to him. Chief Tyrol arrives immediately after and hands over Tarn's dogtags. Spc. Seelix gives the bad news: Spc. Socinus has been injured too long and the medicine will be useless, meaning Tarn died for nothing. She suggests they give him an overdose of Morpha to speed up his death. Lt. Quartararo does not care either way and devolves the authority of euthanising Spc. Socinus to Chief Tyrol as he is a fellow deck hand. Chief Tyrol gives him the overdose. At the deck 12 main arms locker, Cpt. Adama's team checks for more rounds. With help from Jammer, he is able to get in touch with CIC using the phones. Reporting in his location to Cpt. Kelly, CIC learns his position - Deck 12, aft frame 86, puts his team in-between the Centurions and the Secondary Damage Control. Col. Tigh orders that Cpt. Adama's team proceed to the damage control room. Cpl. Venner's team meanwhile checks the Deck 12 Enlisted Head near where Petty Officer Dualla was found. Cpl. Venner recalls that sickbay is 20 meters behind the next hatch, but Bonnington is unable to open it due to the hull breach. Petty Officer Dualla notices Keikeya is armed and, concerned by his decision to rest his sidearm in a trouser pocket, reminds him to turn the safety on. The sound of gunfire and screaming intensifies again, and President Roslin insists Cpl. Venner find another route. The only other route he can think of is by heading towards the damage control room. Act 4 Cpt. Adama's team succeed in reaching damage control. He splits the team into either side of the corridor: Pvt. Twinham and Jammer on one side; Lt. Katraine and Pvt. Collishaw on the other. Crates are moved around to give them more space to take cover. Cpt. Adama reminds everyone they only have one explosive round each, so they must fire at the Centurions' heads. He orders Lt. Katraine to turn off her flashback to give the element of surprise. Cpt. Adama consoles Jammer but can only advise him to shoot when told to. Cpl. Venner's team also moves in on Damage Control, with the sounds of shooting growing ever more louder. Both teams hear the Centurions forcing their way through a door and take cover behind a corner. The Centurions walk straight past without noticing them until Keikeya, on advise to turn his safety off, prematurely fires at a Centurion. The pair turn to engage Cpl. Venner's team, giving Cpt. Adama's team their chance to take them from behind. Both Centurions are killed at the cost of Pvts. Twinham and Collishaw. Cpl. Venner checks on President Roslin, and finds two rounds shot straight through her suit but missed her completely. Back on Caprica, Lt. Thrace and Lt. Agathon stop resting and head out to the apartment's garage where Lt. Thrace's car awaits them. At Sickbay, Petty Officer Dualla is treated for her concussion. She is visited by Keikeya, and tells him to forget about snapping at him earlier before kissing him. He closes the curtain to kiss her again. On the other end, the other survivors and Col. Tigh watch over Cmdr. Adama, who is stable but still comatose. President Roslin quietly returns to the brig with Cpl. Venner. With the two gone, Col. Tigh and Cpt. Adama argue over which one of them is unfit to wear a Colonial uniform, and leaves for the brig. Production Valley of Darkness developed out of Scattered when it became clear there were too many plot points to follow. Most of the Kobol scenes were originally for Scattered. The idea of a Cylon boarding party was added to reach the right length. The general idea of the Cylons penetrating deep into the ship before being discovered and crew members being casual after a battle that took place literally minutes earlier earned some criticism from Ron D. Moore, who felt they oversold the idea. There were minor alterations, cuts and additions to the Galactica scenes during production. The Keikeya/Dualla scenes were expanded in post-production to add more to their romance plotline, adding in them meeting in the teaser and meeting in sickbay. An idea for Act 1 included having the fleet flooding with radio-chatter, with talk of docking with Galactica to offer assistance, believing its radio to be down due to damage. Recording the scenes on Caprica took some time to go through, as cars were driving around as Katee Sackhoff delivered the lines about there being no bodies. The paintings in the apartment were done by Sackhoff herself. The apartment scene was to flesh out the character, with her relationship with her father heavily implied with keeping his records and wearing his jacket. Moore liked the idea of having two protagonists just sit down and relax, rather than being on the run constantly. The general idea of going back to Lt. Thrace's apartment was actually based on a rejected Season 1 idea of Lt. Agathon visiting his apartment. Of the Kobol sequences, the higher-ups were discussing having the dream sequence cut as the idea of child death, even in a dream, felt too brutal. Moore pushed for it on the grounds it added to the mythos by making Cmdr. Adama an enemy in Dr. Baltar's destiny. The sequence was made less violent, however, and the bubbles moving to the surface was cut. The idea of revealing Kobol's bloody past was to both allude to the Hebrew myth of Genesis. Sources Category:Season 2 episodes